Revamping revision: improving grade seven students' writing skills through the teaching of revision strategies
Date
2013-01-14
Authors
Seymour, Melissa
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Abstract
The purpose of this project was to examine the role of revision in the development of Grade 7 students’ writing abilities. A review of the literature focused on the following topics: the writing process, the process of revision, the cognitive processes involved in revision, six-trait writing, teacher-led strategies to develop revision, collaboration and writing, and writing assessment. Spandel’s (2009a) revision program, Creating 6-Trait Revisers and Editors: 30 Revising and Editing Lessons, provided the framework for the development of the 14 lesson unit, Revamping Revision. The goals of the unit were to develop students’ understanding about the characteristics of quality writing and to introduce the students to revision strategies to help them improve the quality of their writing. The collaborative nature of the unit was consistent with social constructivist theory. The unit was taught to a class of Grade 7 students over a period of 12-weeks. Reflection on the literature review and the teaching of the unit revealed that the successes of the unit were directly linked to the use of the six-traits to develop an understanding of strong writing, the scaffolded lessons that taught the specific revision strategies, and the incorporation of constant collaboration opportunities.
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Keywords
revision, writing, middle school, grade seven, language arts